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An creek so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a settlement for more than four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by coniferous woods, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Several months after their own wall was opened, and even before their country had unified again in 1990, a group of villagers began memorialising their history. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal split, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore households asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Right from its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the locals socializing in the identical pub, going to the identical church and placing their children to the identical school.

Following WWII Split

Then came the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Russians installed wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they took over the entire hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a house on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers urged them to retreat back over the creek. For a time, locals could still hop over, though as controls increased they were forced to show identification, even though everyone understood who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The villagers could still view each other by climbing slopes, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was added to a Stasi monitoring list for answering “back at you” to a West German villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I was told narratives like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time building it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how much wall they wanted to keep. They selected a section on the western perimeter, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to get away in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the border was significantly fortified.

Conserved Structures

Two guard towers are maintained alongside a series of exhibits showing the most impactful events in the community’s history. As we move, Lebergen enumerates the rules: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Rural residents required specific authorization to care for their fields; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but never the pair, lest they attempted to make a run for it. Soldiers stood watch.

Wider Context

The frontier between West Germany and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many people (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to cross it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Village Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They did not endorsed the socialist government nor fought it, the director states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. About 15,000 visited every year, viewing tools in possession, to look – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, caused renewed attention.

Current Developments

The opening of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and big car park – is probable to